Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooter, appeared in court two weeks after his alleged assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.
Allen, 31, attended a preliminary hearing in Washington, D.C., on Monday, May 11, and pleaded not guilty to four federal crimes, according to NBC News. Allen wore an orange shirt and trousers, with handcuffs attached to a chain around his waist.
Trump, 79, and several other high-level White House officials were rushed out of the Washington Hilton hotel ballroom on April 25 after shots were fired during the annual event meant to celebrate freedom of speech. A Secret Service agent wearing a bulletproof vest was shot during the alleged attack and transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was later released and reportedly sent home. No one else was injured during the incident.
During an impromptu White House press conference following the incident, Trump said he owed a “debt of gratitude to the courage of law enforcement” for their response.
“That was very unexpected but incredibly acted upon by the Secret Service and law enforcement, and this was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to and in a certain way it did … because the fact that they just unified us — a room that was totally unified,” Trump told reporters at the time.
Allen — an engineer and part-time teacher from Torrance, California — was later identified as the suspected shooter. Authorities alleged he was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives during the incident.
NBC News reported that Allen left a letter for his family, in which he allegedly explained his “rage thinking about everything this administration has done.” He allegedly planned to target “administration officials” at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, claiming that as a U.S. citizen he could no longer be represented by an alleged “rapist” and “pedophile.” While he did not specifically name Trump, Allen seemed to be referring to the president’s alleged connection to and documented relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (Trump has denied he had any knowledge of Epstein’s crime, claiming they had a falling out decades before his death by suicide in 2019.)
The Department of Justice charged Allen with attempt to assassinate the president of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Ahead of Allen’s hearing on Monday, public defender Eugene Ohm alleged during a May 4 court appearance that Allen was being held alone for up to 23 hours a day in a padded cell and stripped of basic privileges, such as visits and phone calls, while incarcerated.
“I’m obviously very concerned about how we’ve gotten here,” United States Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said at the time. “He’s been treated completely differently than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
Faruqui went on to apologize to Allen for his alleged treatment since his arrest.
“I am very troubled by what they indicate the conditions that you have been subjected to. I’m sorry,” Faruqui said. “It sounds like things have not been the way they’re supposed to. … My concern remains if this is what’s happening in this case, what’s happening in every other case.”
